Incite: Queer Writers Read – March

Vanessa Friedman (she/her) is a queer dyke writer living in Portland, OR. She’s the community editor at Autostraddle, a teaching artist with Literary Arts, and an instructor at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute. She received her MFA in creative nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College, and she is a Tin House Summer Workshop alum and a Hedgebrook Spring Retreat alum. Vanessa writes about friendship, home, loneliness, grief, sex, and the body; her work has been published in Autostraddle, Nylon, Catapult, Alma, Shape, among others, and her essay, “If I’m Lonely,” is included in Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown’s Cult Classic, recently published from Harper Perennial. She is represented by Amanda Orozco at Transatlantic Agency and is currently working on her debut novel This Is A Queer Love Story. You can find her online at vanessapamela.com.

Lauren Fulton is a queer, single parent and writer of poetry, fiction and essays. Born and raised in Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon. She loves naps, public libraries, and trying to keep her plants alive. Lauren was a finalist for the Ruminate poetry prize and her work has been featured there, in corporeal lit, Sixfold, INKSOUNDS, and elsewhere, and she is a contributing member of the Rebel on Page poetry collective.

Trystan Reese is a transgender writer who calls Portland home. After spending two decades on the frontlines of this generation’s biggest fights for LGBTQ justice, his trans pregnancy journey launched him onto the global stage where put his narrative skills to use. During his pregnancy, Trystan partnered with media outlets, including CNN, NBC, People, and Buzzfeed, to bring his message of love and resilience to the mainstream. An accomplished storyteller, Trystan was invited to give closing performances for three Moth Mainstage shows; a video of his Brooklyn performance has garnered over 2.6 million views online. He has also been featured on the RISK! Podcast, sharing a more candid take on his internet fame. His first book, How We Do Family, was released in the summer of 2021. He was then selected as a Lambda Literary 2021 Fellow, in the Emerging LGBTQ Voices category. Trystan is also the narrator of the How We Do Family audiobook, released in August of 2021. His children’s book, The Light of You, was released in September of 2022.  Trystan is married to his partner Biff and they live in Portland, Oregon with their three kids: Riley, Sully, and Leo. They are very happy.